The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research to compare culture-based and culture-independent sample processing pipelines for research and surveillance directed towards influenza A viruses (IAVs) in wild birds.   

IAVs maintained in waterfowl and gulls represent potential biological threats to wild and domestic birds.  As such, numerous agencies and institutions within North America have engaged in research and surveillance programs directed towards IAVs in wild birds with varying scopes, scales, and methods.  A primary difference between many programs pertains to whether IAVs are detected and characterized using culture or culture-independent sample processing pipelines.  Unfortunately, differing methods among programs complicates direct comparison of results.  Thus, the inference we can derive from pooling information among programs is often more qualitative than quantitative.  Research to quantitatively compare the detection and characterization of wild bird-origin IAVs using culture-based and culture-independent sample processing pipelines would: (1) help improve the rigor of inference when pooling data from varied research and surveillance programs, (2) provide resource managers with useful information for optimizing surveillance efforts, and (3) would help to elucidate strengths and weaknesses of different approaches.  This opportunity is to work cooperatively with a CESU partner on a multi-year collaborative research project to compare culture and culture-independent sample processing pipelines for research and surveillance directed towards IAVs in wild birds

Deadline: June 30, 2020